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Turmoil
Imperial Calendar, Year 779, March 28th, Commander Ge Ying Xing had left Di Du for the Far East. Around approximately three hundred miles from Fort Warren, in a place called Yellow Stone Mountain, the former Deputy Commander of the Far Eastern Army – Lei Hong, took Yang Ming Hua’s bribe, lay in wait with thirty thousand of his elite forces and ambushed Ge Ying Xing. After a bloody battle, Ge Ying Xing was heavily wounded and his six thousand personal guards were almost completely annihilated. In the end, a few hundred surviving guards gave their lives helping Ge Ying Xing escape the encirclement, but alas, due to the serious nature of his injuries, he passed away soon after he reached Fort Warren.
The City of Di Du was shocked by the dreadful news. Ge Ying Xing was one of the most senior officers from the times of the former Headmaster – ZiChuan Yuan Xing. Despite his incredible list of achievements and the immense power he held, he always remained his humble self, and had never acted recklessly. As the Commander of the Far Eastern Army, he was in charge of all the daily affairs concerning the Far East. The amount of wealth passing through his coffers numbered in the hundreds of millions, yet he could remain honest, not taking a cent extra. He led a simple and modest lifestyle. (While the like of Di Lin or ZiChuan Xiu, would take couple hundred thousand from the spoils of every battle.) He had always been strict to himself, compassionate towards the others. However, the most impressive thing about him was his unwavering loyalty to the House. With his sickly body, he kept Yang Ming Hua at bay for over six years. Both the army and the nation held him at high esteem!
When Ge Ying Xing’s body was transported back to Di Du, the grieving crowd waiting at the side of the road had spread to the end of the horizon. The tears of millions of followers had soaked through the white marble staircase. People of Di Du were angry, and they had spoken: “Cut the traitorous Lei Hong to thousand pieces!”
The state funeral of Ge Ying Xing lasted for three days. During his memorial service, Headmaster ZiChuan Shen Xing announced that Commander Ge Ying Xing’s remains shall be placed in the “Hall of the Holy Spirits”, the Imperial gravesite reserved only for the former Headmasters of the house. It was the highest honour to ever bestow upon an officer. In the entire history of House ZiChuan, forget Commanders, not even any Supreme Commanders were given such honour.
When Headmaster read the opening words of his eulogy, he could barely finish the first sentence before he burst out in tears. He kept on repeating: “The hero has returned, he has returned…” And then he fainted. On purpose or not, it had won him a great deal of goodwill from the people.
That day, the sound of tears had deafened both the inside and the outside of the memorial hall.
Together with ZiChuan Xiu, Bai Chuan came to the memorial service as well. Even though she had only seen Ge Ying Xing once, she could never forget how he had saved her life. She could still remember so vividly his worried gaze, his sickly frame and the warmth of his hands… She had already sobbed her way through several handkerchiefs.
Just then, she noticed something very peculiar: Standing beside her, ZiChuan Xiu did not shed a single drop of tear. In fact, he was furious; his eyes were filled with ice cold hatred. One could feel the chills coming from him miles away.
Tracing after his icy gaze, she found ZiChuan Shen Xing standing on top of the stage, reading his eulogy in the Memorial Hall.
Bai Chuan shivered at the sight; he had always thought Di Lin was the only one capable of such menacing look.
“Sir, don’t keep all your emotions to yourself, it is better to let it out.”
“…”
“Sir, take it easy, don’t overexert yourself. I promise you we will get that traitor – Lei Hong!”
“…”
“Sir? Are you all right?”
ZiChuan Xiu slowly opened his mouth; his every words screamed murder: “A grave injustice was done to Sir Ge Ying Xing. He will not be able to rest in the afterlife!”
With that, he stood up and gave Ge Ying Xing’s portrait a deep bow. Ignoring the others and the ongoing memorial service, he turned around and left.
His actions had offended many. “Ungrateful brat!” they called him, saying: “Sir Ge Ying Xing had saved his life several times, and he couldn’t even be bothered to stay around for his memorial.”
ZiChuan Xiu’s unexplainable behaviour on the Memorial Day had always bothered Bai Chuan. Ge Ying Xing was a loyal servant to the house. He fought as hard as he could, and died from an ambush. Why did he say a grave injustice was done to him?
The question had bothered her for as long as she could remember, until many years later when she met the young Historian of House ZiChuan – Tang Chuan.
When she mentioned what had occurred that day to him, Tang Chuan had an answer ready almost immediately: “It is obvious. The fact that Yang Ming Hua managed to bribe Lei Hong couldn’t possibly have escaped Luo Ming Hai’s notice. He was his most trusted advisor after all. Yet, somehow no one had warned Ge Ying Xing of Lei Hong’s betrayal. Clearly, it was ZiChuan Shen Xing’s idea. After the death of Yang Ming Hua, the balance of power was broken. Ge Ying Xing, who had the support of the army and the people, had naturally become a thorn at ZiChuan Shen Xing’s side. And thus, a loyal servant of the house, who gave everything he had for the greater good, Ge Ying Xing died at the hand of the one he had sworn to serve. If not injustice, what else do you call it? Did none of you notice at the time? You must be kidding. It was pretty obvious…”
Bai Chuan had no answer, but she did realize one thing: “The one playing the game is often lost, but the one observing sees it all.”[[1]]
……
The day the news of Ge Ying Xing’s death reached Di Du, High Command immediately gave the order for retaliation, requesting the other two Deputy Commanders of the Far Eastern Army, Lin Bing and Luo Bo to go after the traitor – Lei Hong.
In truth, before the order was even given, on the same day Ge Ying Xing passed away and without Far Eastern Army Staff Officer – Luo Bo’s consent, the enraged Deputy Commander Lin Bing was already in pursuit of Lei Hong’s rebel forces.
Lei Hong’s original plan was to kill every last one of Ge Ying Xing and his personal guards, leaving no witness behind. That way he could openly accept new “Headmaster” – Yang Ming Hua’s promotion, and become the next Commander of the Far Eastern Army.
He never once doubted the success of Yang Ming Hua’s coup. The reality however, did not agree. Not only did Ge Ying Xing survive the ambush, Yang Ming Hua failed to take the Capital as well. All of a sudden, the vast world had no place left for him to hide.
When confronted with Lin Bing’s great army of vengeance, his first instinct was to run. Together with his men, he fled all the way back to his own controlled territory in the province of Galok, where he swiftly ordered the garrison units to join him in his rebellion.
Imperial Calendar, Year 779, April 2nd, twenty-five divisions formerly under Lei Hong’s command had raised their banners against House ZiChuan.
High Command wasn’t too bothered by the recent developments. Compared to the recently ended rebellion from Yang Ming Hua, House Liu Feng’s massive attack on the capital six years ago, or half century earlier, the Border Army’s rebellion, this was but a small scale local rebellion near the border. It wouldn’t threaten the longevity of the House in anyway. Therefore, there was no need for panic. They could simply leave everything in the capable hands of the two Deputy Commanders, Lin Bing and Luo Bo. Given their vastly superior army in comparison to the rebel’s, perhaps it would take a while, but the outcome was certain.
To all except Di Lin.
No one in the entire Capital had foreseen the terrible consequences this small rebellion could lead to, except him. On the very same day, Do Lin strongly advised High Command to divert three hundred thousand men from the Central Army or the Border Army and redeploy them to the Far East. The overwhelming force was necessary to crush the rebellion within the week, preventing the situation from escalating any further.
Supreme Commander – Luo Ming Hai didn’t even bother to read his proposal. He simply said he needed to go to the bathroom and excused himself in front of the others. Fifteen minutes later, He came out without the document. Apparently he had “used” the proposal while he was in the toilet.
The only resort left to Di Lin was to see Headmaster – ZiChuan Shen Xing directly, but he was quickly being told by the Headmaster: “The jurisdiction of the Ministry of Supervision lies in overseeing the general conduct of the Officers of House ZiChuan, whether any of them had engaged in criminal conduct, fraudulent behaviour or dereliction of duty. The affairs of the Far East fall under the administrative purview of the High Command. You have exceeded your authority; therefore it is best if you withdraw.”
While Di Lin was being sent into a wild goose chase between the Ministry, High Command and the Headmaster’s House, something else happened in the Far East that had escaped everyone’s notice. It was something so insignificant, not even the “Capital News” saw fit to write an article about it.
Imperial Calendar, Year 779, April 11th, the days before the war between House ZiChuan and the rebels was about the break out in the Far East. In the province of Charo, a village so small, it wasn’t even marked on the map of the Far Eastern Region, where majority of its population were Beastmen, with some minority of Serpents. A group of less than hundred warriors from all races came together and formed the “United Freedom Army” with the sole purpose of defending their lands from their common oppressors. In other words, they had openly declared their independence, separating themselves from House ZiChuan’s rule.
[[1]] An Chinese idiom, describing how a personal can be too involved in something, that blinds him from the obvious.
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